Proverbs 9:13-18 Folly’s Ways
We meet the opposite side of Wisdom in the ‘woman’ Folly. She calls out as Wisdom does but her ways lead to death. Post a WARNING flag!
This chapter compares and contrasts two ‘women’. We looked at Wisdom the last time we were together. Today we look at her polar opposite, Folly. We will find that we DON’T want to meet her or answer her call.
These two have a couple things in common. The first is that they are depicted as women. I wonder why this is. The second thing they share is that they both call out to anyone who would answer. This is where their similarities end. Their differences are what are important so let’s look at them.
First off we see a contrast in character. Folly is a brash and unintelligent character. “The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She has a house, like Wisdom does, but she is not credited with its construction. She has no insight of worth to offer anyone. She has no young woman to tend her. She has to put on an impressive outward appearance because there is nothing of worth inside her.
The second thing we see is that Folly is lazy where Wisdom is industrious. Wisdom prepared all that needed tending to for her banquet. Folly doesn’t even offer a banquet. She sits in respectable places and uses seduction to entice men to come to her. “She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town” (verse 14). She is always seen ‘resting on her laurels’ so to speak. No industry or work is attributed to her.
She begins her call to the simple just as Wisdom does but then she changes what is said almost immediately. This brings us to our third difference. Wisdom offers from what is hers where Folly offers stolen items. Wisdom says, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wind I have mixed” (verse 5). Folly says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (verse 17). She doesn’t even pretend to offer from her own stores. She has nothing good to offer so why pretend?
Their final and crowning difference is where associating with them leads to. Wisdom says, “For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life” (verse 11). Folly hides the fact that her ways lead to death but we see it anyway. “But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol” (verse 18). Wisdom brings life and Folly ends in death.
I KNOW which one I want to visit with! I don’t want to even darken the doorstep to Folly’s house. But I know I’ve been there a time or two. Because of the forgiveness that Jesus bought on the cross, the chains she had me tied up with melted off. My soul is no longer destined for Sheol.
Father God, help me completely ‘forget’ how to get to the home of Folly. I don’t want to darken her doorstep ever again! THANK YOU for the check in my spirit when I start walking along her paths. Thank You for helping me not fall prey to her today! It could have been a personal disaster if not for Your intervention Father.
For any who are interested, my Folly foray was almost falling prey to an email scam. I received an email that claimed to be a receipt for a transaction with Norton 360. I was being advised that my account would be debited for the specific amount for renewing my services with them. I don’t use Norton so I called the number on the bottom that said if you wanted a refund to contact them.
After assuring them that I did not order nor sign up for a free trial membership, they told me it was probably someone using my personal information and email address. They could correct the problem with me filling out a form with them. The problem was that this form could not be mailed or emailed to me to complete. They needed remote access to my computer through TeamViewer to complete the process. I came within moments from giving them this access but I got a check in my spirit that said to think again.
They would have had access to all my personal information on my computer. I checked my drives and found no traces of Norton on my computer and no debits on any of my accounts. I told the ‘agent’ that I would be monitoring my account for their transaction and canceling it if it came through but they were not getting remote access to my computer. He hung up as soon as I mentioned alerting my bank to the problem.
After looking closer at the email I noticed the absence of any company information from Norton itself and that the email address was from a gmail account. This alone should have clued me in. I’m posting this as a Folly warning for anyone else. Don’t let her loud and seductive ways get you. Who knows what ‘stolen water’ they would have gathered from me!
